


And If Everything Was Easier Before (Day Six-Bathing Together)

by providentialeyes



Series: Morston Week 2020 [6]
Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Bath Sex, Grinding, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Minor Injuries, Morston Week 2020, Other, Outercourse, non-binary john marston
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:28:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25910593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/providentialeyes/pseuds/providentialeyes
Summary: “I…” Arthur huffs a quiet laugh, “I was tryin’ to move you so you wouldn’t be… Pressed up on me. Didn’t think it’d be an issue the other way ‘round.”“Oh,”John whispers, “Am I-?”“Mm… A lil’,” Arthur says slowly.“Do you want me to…?”“If you want to,” Arthur says and John feels the older man shrug slightly.John swallows and presses down on Arthur’s legs to lift himself up and shift back, his ass against Arthur’s cock.Arthur’s fingers twitch on his waist and the older man’s breath catches.“Oh,” Arthur chokes, “I thought- Thought you meant move off.”
Relationships: John Marston/Arthur Morgan
Series: Morston Week 2020 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1874179
Comments: 2
Kudos: 62
Collections: Morston Week 2020





	And If Everything Was Easier Before (Day Six-Bathing Together)

**Author's Note:**

> Title from [If You Love Me, Come Clean by Flatsound](https://open.spotify.com/track/2e2SkLuJ6wagZ1WWDuAX7c?si=zm3-qHc-RAC90txufEH36g)  
> slit, nub, chest, and hole used for john! i finally figured out how to get arthur to call john baby boy hahahahahhahahAHAHAHHAHA

There’s a particular kindness in a warm bath. 

Not just the kindness to oneself, though John could admit that it did sometimes feel nice, to sink below and feel weightless, worriless.

But there’s a greater kindness in a bath, warm and waiting, prepared for you. 

John’s entire body aches like hell, from the soles of his feet to the space between his brows. 

In all his years of riding horses, he’s never fallen this hard. 

He’s lucky it wasn’t worse, that he didn’t come away any worse than scraped-up and bruised. 

“John?” Arthur calls softly from the door to the bathing room, testing and tentative, like he’s not sure whether John is awake, but doesn’t want to wake him if he is sleeping.

“Mm?” John muffles into his arm and hisses as he starts to lift himself up off his belly, the cuts on his back pulled by the flexing of his shoulder blades, “Shit.”

Right before he can collapse under the pain, Arthur’s hands are warm and strong and lifting him up, wrapped around his chest and waist and slow and careful. 

John makes a weak, uninhibited sound and moves his hands to squeeze Arthur’s tensing against the pain until he’s on his feet, unsteady in front of the older man. 

“C’mon,” Arthur murmurs, gentle and patient as he guides John to through the threshold to sit on the little stool next to the steaming bathtub, “Can you lift your arms?”

“No,” John says apologetically and tries anyway, only for Arthur’s hands to grab his upper arms and stop them from rising any further. 

“Jesus, John, don’t tear anythin’ open,” Arthur says sharply, then stills when John flinches, sighing heavily, “We can do somethin’ else, alright?”

John looks up at Arthur then down to the side. 

“That alright?” Arthur whispers, moving his hands down carefully to John’s elbows.

John gives a half-hearted shrug then tenses in pain.

“Yeah, shit, please,” John mutters reluctantly. 

“You want me to… To look ‘way or some-”

“No… It’s fine,” John says quietly, “How…?”

“Just keep your arms down, yeah?” Arthur leans in and settles his hands at John’s collar, checking the younger’s face for a reaction first. 

John just swallows quietly and tilts his head back to give Arthur more room. 

Arthur works each button free, checking John’s face every other one. 

Until he gets all the buttons freed, coming back to do the same to the undershirt. 

“Still good?” Arthur asks gently as he lowers himself to crouch between John’s legs. 

“It’s fine, Arthur,” John says roughly and tries to shrug off the shirt himself, “Stop bein’ so soft.”

“I’m just- John, stop,” Arthur grabs the younger’s shoulders to still him, “Sorry, alright? Don’t wanna hurt you further.”

John wrinkles his nose in confusion and looks down at Arthur. 

“I was just… It was stupid, alright? I was tryin’ to make a joke, and I spooked her, and you got hurt,” Arthur says roughly, in contrast with how gently he helps John to stand, “Pants?”

“Joke?” John asks but starts to undo the laces of his pants. 

“I had a… Lizard,” Arthur mutters, obviously embarrassed.

“A lizard.”

“Was gonna stick it on you,” Arthur huffs as his face warms and he looks away. 

“… You serious?” 

“I said it was stupid.”

“This why you’re helpin’ me?” John asks wryly and wiggles out of his pants until they fall to his ankles and he kicks them away, “Since it’s your fault, anyway?”

“That ain’t… Yes, partly.”

“Hm,” John wrinkles his nose then glances down at himself, “Uh, think the shirts are… Stuck to the blood.”

“Yeah, just… Lose the drawers and get in,” Arthur nods his head at the bath, “Should be able to work them loose without rippin’ anythin’ open.” 

John looks back up at him, expression softly curious, slightly cautious. 

They’ve done this before.

They’ve done this before, so why is he nervous?

John swallows quietly and turns towards the bath, giving his drawers the same treatment as his pants, kicking them off and stepping closer, hesitating.

“I… I don’t think I can,” John whispers weakly.

"What?"

"I don't think I can get in…"

"Oh…" Arthur shuffles closer and stands next to John, looking down at the bath, "I could get in with you?”

"Damn… You might have to," John grumbles and looks at the older man when he hears fabric rustling.

Arthur, stripping.

He looks back at the water, shoulders aching as he holds himself stiff.

Arthur's hand gently cups his elbow then the older man moves behind him and scoops him up with ease, holding the younger bridal style.

Stepping into the bathtub and slowly lowering himself to sit, John in his lap.

“Jesus, man,” John whispers and squirms lightly before cringing in pain as his shirts gets weighed down, tug on the dried wounds. 

“Sh sh sh, sorry,” Arthur lowers him further until John’s laying back, held up with one of Arthur’s hand’s along his spine, “Hey.”

John opens one eye to squint at the older man. 

“Just gonna let it wet through, yeah? Then we can try n’ take ‘em off.”

John grumbles his assent and moves his hands to settle on the older man’s shins, the coarse hair rubbing his palms. 

Closing his eyes and trusting Arthur to keep him above water. 

The warm water trickles through his hair as Arthur uses his other hand to cup the water and dampen John’s hair, slowly running his fingers through the strands to detangle them.

John makes a small, contented noise, involuntary. 

Arthur pauses, then huffs a soft laugh.

“Feel good?”

“S’nice,” John mumbles, “Water too.”

Arthur studies John’s relaxed face, slowly moving his fingers to comb all of John’s hair back, cupping more water over it. 

“A lizard?” John mutters, sounding amused. 

“I already admitted it was dumb, Marston,” Arthur grumbles, cheeks warming as he mutters sheepishly, “Sorry.”

“Help me with this,” John sighs and tugs at the layers of his shirts, “S’all soggy now.”

Arthur helps him sit up, perched on Arthur’s upper thighs to get him out of the water enough that Arthur can start to work free the cotton without ripping open any of the wounds. 

John presses his lips together harshly, at the feeling of his legs spread over Arthur’s, he can feel the hair on the older man’s thighs against his ass, knows that if he shifted just a few inches to the side Arthur’s thigh would be pressed between his legs. 

And that Arthur would feel the heat and slick starting to form. 

John worries his fingers together in his lap until Arthur guides his arms down and back to pull the shirts free. 

The damp on his chest and back leaves him chilled as Arthur slings the ruined shirts over the side of the tub and onto the floor with a wet ‘plop’.

“There,” Arthur murmurs and John shivers as the older man’s fingertips ghost over his back, checking the damage, “Mostly scrapes, nothin’ too deep.”

“Yeah,” John says shakily. 

“Still hurt though.”

“I’d’ve never guessed.”

“Alright, smartass,” Arthur huffs and readjusts them, hands on the younger’s waist and exactly what John had been fearing happens. 

Arthur stills as John’s breath catches and the younger frantically starts to try and move away. 

“Wait, wait,” Arthur says quickly, “Hold on, it’s alright. Don’t hurt yourself- Just-”

“Sorry,” John says shakily. 

“It’s… It’s alright, just, if you wanna get up, let me help.”

“And if… If I don’t?”

John hears Arthur swallows loudly behind him, the hands on his waist flexing, squeezing. 

“That’s alright too,” Arthur says hoarsely. 

“Sorry,” John says again, presses his lips together, “Can I just-?”

The younger squirms lightly then slides his legs so that he’s sitting more in the middle of Arthur’s thighs. 

“I…” Arthur huffs a quiet laugh, “I was tryin’ to move you so you wouldn’t be… Pressed up on me. Didn’t think it’d be an issue the other way ‘round.”

“ _Oh_ ,” John whispers, “Am I-?”

“Mm… A lil’,” Arthur says slowly.

“Do you want me to…?”

“If you want to,” Arthur says and John feels the older man shrug slightly. 

John swallows and presses down on Arthur’s legs to lift himself up and shift back, his ass against Arthur’s cock. 

Arthur’s fingers twitch on his waist and the older man’s breath catches.

“Oh,” Arthur chokes, “I thought- Thought you meant move off.”

“… Sorry,” John whispers, closing his eyes. 

“I- I mean-” Arthur inhales, shaky, “I mean if you wanna…”

“Kinda?”

“Yeah?” Arthur asks, soft and low, “You ain’t hurtin’ too bad?” 

“Even if I was,” John snorts and shifts experimentally, “Can I turn around?”

“S’there enough room?” Arthur asks but he’s already lifting John up, helping the younger turn around. 

Scooting forward, encouraging John’s legs to wrap around his hips. 

“Fuck,” John whispers and tenses when Arthur’s cock is lined up with his slit, hard and hot against him. 

Arthur’s gaze is low between them looking down at how they’re fit together. 

“Jesus,” Arthur says hoarsely, looking up, lips parted as he studies John.

“Alright?” John whispers, toes curling, nervous and anticipating.

“Yeah, are you?”

“I… I wanna do somethin’,” John says slowly.

“What?”

“I wanna…” John drops his gaze, drops one hand to Arthur’s stomach, uses the leverage to roll his hips, sliding himself along Arthur’s length, “This.”

Arthur groans and reclines himself slightly, swallowing and looking up at John. 

Looking _down_ John, taking in the entirety of the younger. 

Arthur’s thumbs brush over his lower ribs. 

Slides them up, just an inch or so, hesitant.

Looks back up at John’s face, John’s eyes, searching with such care and concern John’s stomach flips. 

He nods shakily and rocks his hips again, grinding against Arthur’s cock. 

Arthur’s fingers slowly cup around the shape of his chest, framing either side, then bringing his thumbs in, over the nipples. 

Back and forth, watching them harden from more than the cool air outside the bath. 

“John,” Arthur whispers, drops his hands back to the younger’s waist.

Tugs, lightly, encouraging. 

John moves both hands up to Arthur’s chest, sliding up the muscle over Arthur’s ribs until his thin fingers are curving around the shape of Arthur’s chest just like Arthur’s hands did to him. 

He rocks his hips as he toys lightly with Arthur’s nipples, pressing his lips together at the rumbling groan that vibrates Arthur’s chest under his hands. 

John unwinds his legs from around Arthur and kneels instead, leaning down to hide his face in Arthur’s neck, their chests pressed flush as he grinds down. 

Slick making Arthur’s cock slip and rub over his slit with ease. 

“Yeah, just like that, baby,” Arthur murmurs. 

“Ain’t a baby,” John protests weakly.

“Sure,” Arthur huffs quietly, slides his hands down to John’s ass, forces the younger to rub against him a little faster, “ _Sure_.”

“ _Arthur_ ,” John grumbles then whines softly, cheeks flushing hot, hiding his face more firmly as his hips twitch, the head of Arthur’s cock catching on his nub. 

“Mmhm, there y’go, baby boy,” Arthur murmurs and John lets out a shaky breath, squeezing the older man’s hips between his knees, “You like that?”

“Mm.”

Arthur just snorts softly and moves a hand between them, wedging his thumb under John so the younger is forced to catch it with each grind. 

“Arthur,” John gasps, “Art- Please.”

“Keep goin’,” Arthur murmurs, “Got you.”

“Gonna… Close,” John whines and squirms, hips twitching and hole clenching against Arthur’s cock. 

“Shh, shh, me too,” Arthur murmurs, “Gotta stay quiet, though, darlin’.”

John quiets himself by sinking his teeth into Arthur’s shoulder, whimpering into the older man’s flesh. 

Arthur grunts and his hips rock up, fucking his cock through John’s slit. 

Grinding the pad of his thumb over the younger’s nub and grabbing one side of John’s ass, gripping to hold the younger in place. 

John cries out softly against his shoulder, tenses against him and Arthur can feel the younger’s hole clenching against the base of his cock and it undoes him. 

“Shit- _John_ ,” Arthur groans as his cock twitches, pulses and spills into the warm water. 

**Author's Note:**

> [my twitter](https://www.twitter.com/gwennolmarie)  
> Munchy is hosting the Morston Week here's more info  
> [Morston Week Twitter](https://twitter.com/MorstonWeek)  
> [Morston Week Tumblr](https://morstonweek.tumblr.com/)  
> And here's [the collection!](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/MorstonWeek2020)


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